Veterinarian Salary in Connecticut
Veterinarians in Connecticut earned a median annual wage of $126,190 in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 estimates — $3,910, or 3%, below the national median of $130,100.
The gap at the middle is modest, but the distribution's edges are not: the Connecticut 10th percentile sits 36% below the national 10th percentile, the widest gap on this page, while the 75th and 90th percentiles run slightly ahead of the national figures.
BLS counted 950 veterinarians in the state, ranked 30th of the 49 jurisdictions by employment and 26th by median.
10th percentile
$46,960
25th percentile
$104,780
75th percentile
$167,390
90th percentile
$218,720
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Connecticut, SOC 29-1131 (Veterinarians). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
Connecticut vs. the national figures
The Connecticut median is below the national median by 3%. Among the 49 jurisdictions (states plus DC) where BLS publishes a veterinarian median for May 2025, it ranks 26th, and 30th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Close at the median, far apart at the floor
At the median, Connecticut trails the nation by $3,910, or 3%: $126,190 against $130,100.
The hourly figures repeat the pattern almost exactly, at $60.67 against $62.55, also a 3% gap.
The percentiles move independently of the median, though.
The Connecticut 10th percentile is $46,960, 36% below the national 10th percentile of $73,920 — by far the widest gap on this page.
The 25th percentile flips the direction, running 3% above the national 25th percentile of $101,460 at $104,780, and the top of the range does the same: the 75th percentile is 1% above the national 75th at $167,390, and the 90th percentile is 1% above the national 90th at $218,720.
An offer near the top of the Connecticut range compares well against the national top; an offer near the bottom does not.
A comparable middle band inside an unusually wide floor-to-ceiling span
The middle half of Connecticut veterinarians — between the 25th and 75th percentiles — earned between $104,780 and $167,390, a band $62,610 wide, close to the national band's $64,660.
The full spread tells a different story: from the 10th percentile of $46,960 to the 90th of $218,720, Connecticut spans $171,760, against $141,780 nationally.
The ratio from bottom to top is 4.7 times in Connecticut, against 2.9 times nationally.
That wider span comes almost entirely from the low 10th percentile rather than an especially high ceiling.
Inside the band, the median of $126,190 sits closer to the 25th percentile than to the 75th.
OEWS publishes the shape of a distribution, not the reasons behind it, so this page does not attribute the wide floor-to-ceiling span to any particular kind of practice.
A mid-sized workforce among the jurisdictions BLS counts
BLS estimates 950 veterinarians employed in Connecticut, 30th of the 49 jurisdictions that publish an employment figure alongside a median — a smaller workforce than the state's 26th-of-49 median rank might suggest on its own.
The employment estimate is a headcount of people in jobs during the survey period, not a count of open positions.
Read it as the size of the profession counted in the state alongside the wage percentiles above, and nothing more.
What it takes to practise in Connecticut
Practising veterinary medicine in Connecticut takes a license from the Department of Public Health's Practitioner Licensing and Investigations section.
Examination applicants pass the NAVLE, or the older National Board Examination plus Clinical Competency Test, and pay a $565 exam fee; Connecticut's veterinary chapter names no separate state law exam.
A veterinarian already licensed elsewhere can skip the exam through endorsement or licensure without examination, each also $565, and a 120-day temporary permit can bridge a license-without-examination application.
Licenses renew every year against 24 hours of continuing education per rolling 24-month period.
Those requirements are the same wherever a job in this state's wage range falls; the Connecticut license requirements page covers each route and its citation.
CT Dept. of Public Health, Practitioner Licensing & Investigations
Connecticut licenses veterinarians through the Department of Public Health's Practitioner Licensing and Investigations section.
Connecticut accepts the NAVLE or, for older licenses, the National Board Examination plus Clinical Competency Test
24 contact hours of continuing education per rolling 24-month period, while the license itself renews annually
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median veterinarian salary in Connecticut?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 estimate puts the Connecticut median annual wage for veterinarians at $126,190, or $60.67 an hour.
Half of the veterinarians counted earned more and half earned less.
The national median in the same release is $130,100, so Connecticut sits 3% below it — a modest gap that does not carry through to every percentile on this page.
How much do the highest-paid veterinarians in Connecticut earn?
The Connecticut 90th percentile is $218,720, meaning one in ten veterinarians counted earned more than that — 1% above the national 90th percentile of $215,700.
The 75th percentile shows the same pattern: $167,390 in Connecticut against $166,120 nationally, also 1% higher.
The top of the Connecticut range runs slightly ahead of the national top even though the state's median runs behind it.
What does a veterinarian at the lower end of the Connecticut range earn?
The Connecticut 10th percentile is $46,960, which is 36% below the national 10th percentile of $73,920 — the widest gap at any percentile on this page.
The 25th percentile tells a different story, at $104,780 against a national $101,460, 3% above it.
Percentiles are positions in the wage distribution, not particular jobs or career stages, so they cannot tell you what a given employer will offer.
How many veterinarians does BLS count working in Connecticut?
BLS estimates 950 veterinarians employed in Connecticut in its May 2025 release, 30th of the 49 jurisdictions that publish an employment figure alongside a median.
That is a headcount of people in jobs during the survey period, not a count of open positions, so it describes the size of the counted workforce and nothing about how those jobs are distributed among employers.
Do I need a Connecticut license to work as a veterinarian there?
To practise veterinary medicine in Connecticut you need a license from the Department of Public Health's Practitioner Licensing and Investigations section.
The route runs through the NAVLE (or the older NBE plus CCT) and a $565 exam fee, with no separate Connecticut law exam.
The Connecticut license requirements page on this site sets out each step and its citation; confirm current rules with the Department before you apply.
More Connecticut Veterinarian Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — Connecticut, SOC 29-1131 Veterinarians (BLS Public Data API) (retrieved 2026-09-16)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 national estimates — SOC 29-1131 Veterinarians (via O*NET OnLine) (retrieved 2026-08-15)
- Connecticut Department of Public Health, Practitioner Licensing & Investigations — veterinarian licensure pages, as summarised on the Connecticut license requirements page (retrieved 2026-09-16)
Wage figures: BLS OEWS May 2025 state and national estimates, SOC 29-1131, retrieved 2026-09-16. Page last updated 2026-09-22.